Television viewing is no longer limited to the viewer's home. With the advent of mobile devices such as smart phones, portable media players, portable computers, tablet computers and the like, it is now possible to enjoy television programming and other multimedia content while traveling or commuting, or from virtually any location at home or away.
There are currently various ways to deliver media content to mobile devices. In some cases, the viewer's desired content may be obtainable directly from the source in a continuously streaming format via the Internet or another network. Many television networks, for example, now allow direct access to at least some streaming programming via websites such as Hulu.com, HBO.com, or the like. Even if the desired content is not available from the source, various placeshifting solutions are now available that can allow viewers to stream desired content from personal television receivers, media players or digital video recorders to mobile phones or other devices. The various placeshifting products available from Sling Media Inc. of Foster City, Calif., for example, allow television content to be shifted in a streaming format from a remotely-located set top box or digital video recorder to a mobile phone, portable computer or other playback device via the Internet or another network. Other types of content delivery may also be available via direct broadcast satellite (DBS) or other sources.
While streaming is convenient for many purposes, it does have various shortcomings. In particular, since the media stream is typically provided continuously during playback, streaming media typically demands a live connection to the host throughout all (or at least a substantial portion) of the playback. This can be a significant challenge during airline flights or other situations in which active streaming connections are not readily available, or are unreliable.
Even when online streaming is unavailable, various offline playback techniques may be attempted. Offline playback is typically supported by synchronizing a copy of a media file from a server to the playback device prior to playback. Usually, the desired program can be played back from a locally-stored copy after the media file has been transferred. While this scenario eliminates the need for a live connection during playback, the synchronizing file transfer process can present its own challenges. In particular, if the data connection between the server and the playback device should become unavailable for any reason during file synchronization, then the partial file maintained by the playback device may be unusable. At the very least, the partial file may be missing at least a portion of the programming content, thereby potentially causing the viewer miss the end of the program.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and processes to allow efficient and reliable viewing of media programs on remotely-located playback devices. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.